Privilege or right?

I recently had a discussion with someone about the still-somewhat-new franchise/business tax that has reared it's ugly head in Texas.

Here's what I object to, in a nutshell:

1. I object to being forced by the state of Texas to spend a half-day of my time, unpaid, figuring out which forms they require me to fill out, in order to prove that my business does not owe the state any money.
2. I object to the current Texas constitution (which begins with the words, "Humbly invoking the blessings of Almighty God, the people of the State of Texas, do ordain and establish this Constitution." Off to a wonderful start!) being violated right now by the state forcing my business to prove that it doesn't owe any tax...rather than the state having the burden of proof on it, that it must prove that I owe tax.
   
3. I object to the state's Comptroller's office stating that "The Texas franchise tax is a privilege tax imposed on corporations, including banking corporations and limited liability companies, that are chartered in Texas. The tax is also imposed on non-Texas corporations that do business in Texas.

The last one was told to me by one of my business attorneys. She said, "doing business in Texas is a privilege."

No ma'am, it is not...not if you were born and raised in Texas, or a naturalized Texan, in which case the right to do business in Texas is your God-given right. It is NOT any kind of privilege.

What's the big deal, you ask?

Big government is taking away more and more of our God-given rights by trying to re-package them and "sell" them to us as "privileges."

Take driving, for instance.

The state of Texas currently claims that there is no "right" to drive in Texas. I will agree in part, because I certainly don't want drunken truckers from Mexico careening up and down I-35 in huge 18-wheelers...oh, wait, they're already here thanks to NAFTA and the hideous Trans-Texas Corridor which robs land from rural landowners like my step-father and others for no good reason other than to cater to the coming North American Union.

Anyway...for those of us who were born and raised in Texas AND people who move here and make the effort to learn the language and comply with our rules and customs here in Texas, driving is our God-given right to get around and transport ourselves, others, and our stuff.

Driving is NOT a privilege, it is your God-given RIGHT unless you are a non-Texas citizen (and "non-Texas citizen" includes illegal aliens (look up the definition, "alien" is clearly defined in the Constitution as a citizen of another country, and illegal means they did not enter by legal means.)

Yet the state of Texas claims that driving on public roads is a privilege. And yes, these would be the roads that WE paid to have built through our property and sales and federal taxes. (Making existing roads into toll roads is actually double-taxation, by the way!)

The gall. The sheer, unmitigated gall.

The state needs to get on it's collective knees right now (or seated, for those of us with painful knees) and pray to the almighty God in Jesus/Yeshua's name that He would soften our hearts that we might repent of our sin of pride and accept Jesus and be saved!